


If This Is to End in Fire

by StellaVesperis



Series: Fëanorian Week 2021 [6]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: But we're not gonna talk about that, Canon Compliant, Dramatic Irony, Fëanorian Week 2021, Gen, It's that timeline again where Umbarto dies, Light Angst, Pre-Losgar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-28 00:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellaVesperis/pseuds/StellaVesperis
Summary: As the Ambarussar sail across the sea to Beleriand, it becomes evident that they are, for the first time, of different minds.
Relationships: Amras & Amrod (Tolkien)
Series: Fëanorian Week 2021 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211360
Kudos: 6





	If This Is to End in Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt-fill: twins

The passage was quiet, even between the Ambarussar. Their own boat was small and held only a sliver of their followers, and, under their lords’ silence, uttered few words themselves.

  
Pityo walked over to the starboard to join his twin, whose eyes were trained back on the land behind them. His flaming hair streamed about his face in the gale. “Ulmo is letting us pass,” Telvo said softly, eyes unwavering from the land they were leaving, and he shivered.   
  
“Why do you think he suffers it?”   
  
“I don’t know.” He drew his cloak about him. “Pityo, do you think-”   
  
“That we made the right decision?” He watched his breath crystalize in front of him. He wasn’t used to this sort of cold. “I don’t know.”   
  
“Atar isn’t the same.”   
  
“And neither are we.”   
  
Telvo turned back, suddenly meeting his twin’s eyes. “Look what we did,” he whispered, his eyes brimming with tears. “We brought down Alqualondë- we killed them. Pityo, what have we done?”   
  
He wrapped his arm around his brother. “All that we were told.”   
  
“That doesn’t make it any less wrong,” he said fiercely.   
  
“No.” A whisper. “It does not.”   
  
“And Námo- Námo said-”   
  
“I don’t trust the Valar,” Pityo said firmly, but his twin did not seem much comforted by this. “It’s a ploy to get us back there, under their command.”   
  
“ _Your_ name is not Umbarto,” he said bitterly, and Telvo almost stepped back from its force.   
  
“You _aren’t_ fated,” he snapped. “Don’t ever believe that name, Telvo. It’s only a name, not a prophecy.”   
  
“Does it not unsettle you?” He took his twin’s hand. “Amil was always far-sighted-”   
  
“-and yet she was not a Seer,” Pityo asserted.   
  
“Pityo, I… I want to go back.”   
  
“We have come too far for that.”   
  
“Have we?”   
  
“Did we not swear an oath, just like the rest of our family?” Pityo burst out. “An oath to pursue those who withhold our birthright from us, to avenge our grandfather?”   
  
Telvo squeezed his hand tightly, closing his eyes. “Do not scorn me.”   
  
Pityo closed his mouth, anger ebbing away. They’d never allowed anything to come between them before, especially something as grave as this. He returned the squeeze. “I could never scorn you. Nor do I blame you. It’s… I fear Atar right now. If we were to turn back, what would he do?”   
  
“We are not just his sons. Remember what Ammë said? She tried to stop him, to spare us from something.” He looked deep into his brother’s eyes, beseeching him.   
  
“Amil left us.”   
  
“Not us. _Him._ And I do not blame her. Not after all the things we’ve-” he broke off, tears slipping down his face. They cut like knives in the icy wind.   
  
Pityo embraced his brother, trying to hide his face from their men. Weakness or hesitation was not an option. “We must keep going,” he murmured. “It pulls us, doesn’t it? The oath?”   
  
“If we go on, we are Doomed.”   
  
“And if we stay behind, death may yet find us. It found Grandfather.”   
  
“You are right; I know. Only I wish you weren’t.” Telvo turned his gaze back to the shoreline, swiftly fading. He wondered what the hosts of Nolofinwë would do when they realized what they’d done.   
  
* * * 

The strange new shore grew more and more distinct, and some leaped as they neared the shallows to anchor the ship.    
  
“It looks like they’re setting up camp,” Pityo told his brother. Their brother’s ships had arrived shortly before their own, and preparations were already underway. “I’ll go get our belongings.”    
  
Once he’d gathered everything they’d need for the night, he prepared to head ashore, but realized that Telvo wasn’t beside him. He turned around.    
  
Telvo was still gazing across the sea.    
  
“Telvo.” Upon hearing his name, he turned, and a guilty look flashed across his face.    
“You’re planning on leaving, aren’t you?” Pityo said quietly.    
  
“Oh, no.” His smile seemed forced. “I’ll sleep on the ship tonight. It’s more comfortable.”    
  
“Then I’ll stay with you,” he said sharply. “If you think that I’m about to let you-”    
  
“Pityo, please.” He approached his brother. “You need to go ashore. You have to fulfill it. For both of us.”    
  
“I am full with you.” He searched his twin’s eyes, trying to discern whatever had possessed him. “Do not depart until morning,” he breathed, making sure that they could not be overheard. “I will go wherever you go.”    
  
Pityo tried to hurry his brother along, off the ship. “Goodnight, Ambarussa.”    
  
“I’ll see you when tomorrow comes, Ambarto.” It was almost a command.    
  
“I’ll see you then.” He gave a soft smile. “I promise.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback is appreciated!


End file.
